


Day-Care

by Prisca



Category: The Faculty (1998)
Genre: AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-12
Updated: 2015-03-12
Packaged: 2018-03-17 13:50:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3531647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prisca/pseuds/Prisca
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first day at the day-care for five-year-old Casey</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day-Care

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



"Mom, you sure I need to go?"

Mrs. Connor sighed and threw a look at her almost six year old son. Today he seemed so small and vulnerable and she hated the thought to bring him to the day-care. But there was no other way.

"Honey, I'm sorry. You know, I need to go to work. And Mrs. June can't take care of you over summer because she's in the hospital.

Casey was fighting with tears.  
"I'm a big boy," he murmured.  
"I'm going to this new school for some month now."

Mrs. Connor smiled slightly. Yes, he did and she knew how hard it had been for him to leave Idaho and his old friends. To deal with this new school in Herrington. She had planned to give him a really good time over summer. Mrs. June, a nice, elderly lady from the neighborhood had promised to take care of him when she was at work. But then she fall of a ladder and ended at the hospital with an open fracture of her left leg. It would last some weeks until she would come home again. And of course Casey wasn't old enough to stay alone all day long. The day-care was the only option.

“Yes, you are,” she finally said.  
"You are old enough to understand that we have to go now, right? We are running late, I don't want to be late at work.

C'mon honey, I'm sure you will have a lot fun in the day-care. All the other children you can play with ..."

"O...kay!"  
Finally Casey got up and slipped into his jacket and shoes. He didn't want to bring his mom into trouble. But the thought of the other children in the day-care still bothered him, he preferred it to be alone.

+++

Mrs. Miller was nice. She had welcomed him friendly.

"So, you are Casey, right? Nice to have you here."

While he hung up his jacket his Mom was still standing there, looking somehow uneasy. Mrs. Miller smiled at her reassuring and took Casey's hand.

"So, c'mon in. What do you like to do? We have crayons and play-doh. Or maybe you want to do a puzzle?"

Some time later he was sitting at a round table, an almost finished puzzle in front of him. Now and then someone glanced over, but until now no one has talked to him. But he didn't mind. What should they have talked about anyway?

There was this girl with the long hair and the glasses. She looked annoyed and rolled her eyes while she snatched a doll out of the hands of another girl.

"You did this wrong, Stokely!"  
Her voice sounded huffy and Casey didn't like this in the slightest.  
"This is a girl-doll. She needs to wear a nice dress and you must comb her hair. She wants to look pretty!"

Stokely glared back.  
"No, she doesn't! She's an astronaut. She will fly to Mars soon and fight against aliens."

The other girl sighed deeply.  
"There are no aliens, says my Mom. People who believe in it, are silly."

Casey's looked over to the two boys who where sitting at the other side of the room. They were big and strong. He was sure that it was better to stay out of their way.

"My Dad takes me to a Football game this weekend," told one of them.  
"I like the Giants. You?"

"The Green Bay Packers. One day I will play for them."

"Pfft, the Packers. They did so poorly in their last game."

"Sure, because Brett was sick. He's the best Quarterback ever."

Casey pulled a face. Pretty dolls. And Football. He was not interested in all this. Well, maybe the Mars. It remembered him of his Dad. Every evening when he came home from work he had told him stories about the sun and the stars, far, far away.

Casey had listened to him with great eyes.  
"I would love to go there," he had said.

And his dad had smiled.  
"You would need hundreds of years to get there. But who knows, Casey, maybe one day we will be able to visit them."

Suddenly he felt tears pricking in his eyes. Everything had changed last year. His Dad got sick, an ambulance had taken him to the hospital ... and he never came back. Casey sniffed a few times. But he wouldn't cry. He did this only secretly when he was alone in his bed. Finally he finished the puzzle and reached into his backpack. The album he pulled out was thick and heavy.

+++

"Hello, Casey!"  
Mrs. Miller smiled, standing beside his table.  
"What are you doing?"

Casey looked up.  
"Oh, this is my photo album," he explained.  
"My Mom said, I can take it with my. But if this is not allowed, I can put it away."

"No, no!"  
Mrs. Miller took place on one of the small chairs beside him.  
"It's totally okay. So, you like photography?"

"Yeah!"  
Casey nodded.  
"My grandpa gave me his old camera. And when I'm grown up, I will go to New York and become a famous photographer."

"Oh, I can see this. Your pictures are really interesting!"  
Mrs. Miller got up again and extended her hand.  
"Tell you what. It's lunch time now. But after lunch we usually sit in a circle. It would be nice to hear a bit more about your hobby."

Casey hesitated for a moment.  
“Maybe”, he finally said.

"That's okay. C'mon now. You can sit beside Stokely."

+++

He noticed the boy when they reached the large table. He was sitting on a wooden bench near the window, knees pulled up, reading in a book. And he didn't even look up while all the others were taking their seats for lunch. Mrs. Miller followed his eyes and sighed softly.

"Oh. I guess I should have a talk with him. Stokes? This is Casey. He is new. Will you look after him, please?”

"Sure!"  
The girl turned to him and smiled.  
"Hey!"

"Hello!"  
Casey smiled back. His eyes followed Mrs. Miller. She was talking now to the boy at the window, but obviously he was not willing to listen. He just shook his head and stared in his book.

"Who is that," Casey asked.

"Huh?"  
Stokely followed his gaze.  
"Oh, this is Zeke. Don't worry about him."

"He looks so alone."

Stokely shrugged.  
"He's always like that. I guess he doesn't like anyone here."

Casey's curiosity was woken up. When the boy finally got up and trotted over to the table, he followed him with his eyes. There was only one free chair left, near to Casey. And before he could turn his eyes away the boy had taken notice of him. He frowned.

"What," he hissed.  
“Anything wrong with my nose?"

"Zeke, be nice," Mrs. Miller warned him and Casey turned his attention to the plate in front of him.

+++

Lunch together with the others wasn't as bad as Casey had expected. He kept quiet most of the time, but Stokely was nice to him. And the spaghetti were almost as good as his mom's, not to mention the jell-o. Casey loved jell-o. After dinner it was time for the circle. All of them were sitting down on old mattresses. It looked really comfortable.

"Yesterday my mom took me to the mall," the girl with the long hair and the glasses started at once.  
"There was this pretty dress ..."

"I'm sure, this dress was great, Delilah," Mrs. Miller interrupted her softly.  
"But Casey just joined us today, I think, we will give him the chance to tell us about his hobby. He likes to take pictures and he has brought us his album."

Delilah looked slightly annoyed. Some of the boys turned away and started to chatter about the last baseball game. Zeke was looking out of the window, obviously bored about everything around him. And Casey suddenly felt nervous. He didn't enjoy it to stand in the center. But then it ran better than expected. Some of the other children were really interested in his pictures and Casey relaxed more and more. Even Delilah finally gave in and joined them.

"Tomorrow is Friday," she said.  
"On Fridays we are allowed to bring a toy from home. Will you bring your camera?"

“Ähm ...”  
Casey didn't want to affront her but inwardly he cringed. His camera was not a toy. He didn't want the other children to play around with it.  
"Sorry, I can't. My Grandpa always tells me to select the motives carefully, only ten pics a week. To make them special, you know.”

"But you can take pics of me," Delilah suggested.  
"My Mom says, I'm very photogenic."

“Oh!”

He actually never did pics from other people, well, at least beside of his mom and his grandpa. It was Stokely who him saved. At least for the moment.

"Del thinks, the whole world turns around her and her dresses and hairstyles," she whispered and chuckled slightly.  
Then she pointed at one picture in his photo album.  
"What's this? It almost looks like an UFO!"

Some of the others giggled, some groaned. Casey smiled.  
"No, of course not. It's a lid of an old pan from my mom. I've experimented a bit with light effects and different angles."

"Oh shit!"

Casey didn't need to look up. He knew exactly who was talking. Luckily there was Mrs. Miller, her voice a bit stricter than usual.  
"E - ze - kiel! We've already talked about the use of these words last week, didn't we?"

"Yes, we did!"  
Zeke shrugged.  
"But I'm right, or not? How silly is this, to make a pic of a lid?"

Casey felt slightly embarrassed and blushed. Mrs. Miller frowned.  
"Well, Zeke, I'm sure Casey has had a good reason for it. He tries hard to learn more about photography. Maybe you should talk with your Mom about it. She can tell you how difficult it is to become a good photographer."

"My mom ... never did pics of a lid," Zeke said.  
"May I get up? I need to go for a pee!"

Mrs. Miller nodded.  
"Sure, go ahead. Our circle-time is almost over anyway!"

+++

Casey was playing cards with Stokely and a boy named Stan but he couldn't stop glancing over to the bench in front of the window where Zeke was sitting again, alone with his book, like before. Though he hadn't been very nice, Casey felt sorry for him. In a way he seemed to be even more alone than he was. Stokely had told him that he came here every day after school already since some months and that he spend most of the time reading or that he just stared out of the window. Usually he didn't talk to anyone.

Despite of being distracted Casey did win the game, but when Stokely asked for a revenge he shook his head. Wildly resolved he got up and went over to the boy.

"Hey," he murmured and dropped down onto the bench beside him.

Zeke didn't even look up from his book.

"So your mom is a photographer," Casey asked.

"Photo reporter. She works for a great fashion magazine."

Casey smiled, almost surprised that it had been that easy.  
"That's so cool. My mom is working in the K-mart nearby. She is really nice. But to have a mom with such a great job ...”

Finally Zeke looked up.  
"What do you want, huh?"

"I bet, you are proud of her.”

Zeke narrowed his eyes.  
"Why should I? She is just doing her job!”

“But doesn't she like it to take photos of you?”

“No, of course not! She's jetting around the world to interview celebrities and to take pictures of them. Last week she was in Hollywood. Tomorrow she's going to Paris. When she comes home she's tired and needs to rest. Why do you think she wants to take pictures of me?"

Casey swallowed, he hard a hard time to let this info sink in. His Mom had always stayed at home, only when his Dad died last year she needed to look for a job. But every evening she came home and they spend some time together, they talked about their day, played a game or she read to him. On Sundays, her day off, they always did something special, went to a movie or visited the zoo. Who did all this with Zeke when his Mom was so far away?

"What's with your dad," he finally asked.

Zeke snorted.  
"Never had one. He's left my mom before I was born!"

"Oh!"  
Casey stared at him, feeling outright shocked now. No Mom and no Dad who did take care for him? He did spent a lot time at school and in the day-care … but where did he go to in the evening? Was he alone even over night?  
"But..."

"Shut up," Zeke suddenly snapped at him.  
"You are such a curious shit!"

Casey flinched and looked around. Luckily Mrs. Miller was sitting together with three girls at the other side of the room. He bit his lower lip.  
"You shouldn't use this words. Or you will get into trouble," he murmured.

Zeke pulled the face.  
"Why do you care?”

"I don't!”

"Good!"  
Looking bored Zeke turned away and reached for his book again.

"I just wonder ..."  
Casey hesitated.  
"I just wonder ... who's taking care for you when your Mom is not at home?"

"I have a Nanny. And an Au pair! Is this all you want to know?"

Casey nodded quickly. But there was still one more question bothering him.  
"And what are you doing here? When you have a Nanny you don't need to go to a day-care."

"Tell me about it! My shrink is of another opinion."

Casey frowned.  
"What is this ... a shrink?"

"A doctor, stupid! He's told my mom that I need a few friends. So she decided to send me to a day-care. As if anyone here would care about me."

Casey swallowed. This was so sad. But on the other hand...  
"Well, if you would try to be a bit more nice, I'm sure, the others would like you better.”

Zeke stared at him dumbfounded. Casey blushed, turned around and run away. Why he had said this, even if it was the truth, was beyond him.

+++

"Mom!"

Casey ran towards his mother when she came to pick him up. He was glad to see her. There was so much to tell.

"Hey, one step at a time," she laughed when he threw his arms around her.  
"So, how was your day?"

"It was okay," he said and smiled wide.  
"We have had spaghetti for lunch. And jell-o. I got a red one.

And Mrs. Miller allowed me to tell the others about my pics. That was great. Stokely says your old lid looks like an UFO.”

His mom smiled, feeling relieved that he was fine. To lose his father and the move to Ohio had been hard for him, he had his difficulties with making new friends at school.

"She's really nice, you know," he told her.  
"We played cards with Stan ... and I won. Two times! Stan likes football. One day he wants to play for the ... for the ... I can't remember the name of the Team, something with green ... And ..."

"Zeke, hurry up. We need to go now!"

The voice of a young girl silenced Casey. He looked over to Zeke and a displeased looking Au pair. Zeke ignored her and dug around in his backpack as if it would be the most important thing of the world. Finally he straightened up, a pencil in his hands.  
“Oh, there it is,” he said … and put it into a small box on the table beside him.  
“I guess, I'm ready now.”  
The young girl only huffed and turned to the door, Zeke followed her with a grin on his face.

When he passed Casey he stopped for a moment.  
"Hey, Snoopy, see you tomorrow," he said.

Some others stared at him surprised, but Casey giggled slightly.

“Who was that,” his mother asked.  
“A new friend?”

“That's Zeke,” Casey answered. He wondered if he should bring his camera tomorrow. Maybe he could take some pics of him.

**Author's Note:**

> originally postet at my LJ in three chapter
> 
> revised March 2015


End file.
